Love Square,The Crazy Hero Love Story
by Ralyena Starrling
Summary: Nightwing,Aqualad and Speedy meet Blue Beetle and immediately fall in love.This of course soon makes them rivals for the young scarab's affections.And what makes it worse is that their mentors are helping them!Talk about crazy!But at least it's funny.
1. Love At The First Three Sights

Hi, my friends! Today I have a story that I think you'll all like. Enjoy!

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Summary: Nightwing, Aqualad and Speedy get along just like any normal group of teenage boys. As such there come moments when that one girl comes along and makes these usual good buddies the worst enemies. However in this case that one girl is that one boy, namely one Jaime Reyes aka Blue Beetle. After seeing the young, handsome and exotic blue creature, the boys start a war for his affections. And it doesn't help when their mentors decide to get in on the action and help their pitting sidekicks try to woo Jaime. What makes it worse is that the poor boy doesn't even know what's going on!

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It was like any other dark night in Gotham City, where some kind of villain was up to no good. And on this night the ever relentless villain Scarecrow was at the Chemical Research and Development Laboratory with his goons to steal a newly made serum that would make the effects of his fear gas more suffering.

Right now the straw man was trying to hack into the security system that kept the drug sealed within an electric cryogenic vault. Soon the villain managed to hack the system and the vault opened wide, unleashing cold smoke and inside was a silver box on a white medium sized stand.

"Finally. With this chemical my fear gas will give my victims a tenfold amount of mental torture. And no one will be able to stop me this time. Especially with the Dark Night away fighting Joker and Riddler."Scarecrow said with a deep smirk on his face. He and his henchmen walked to the open vault but stopped when a voice not their own spoke.

"You're a long way from the Wizard of Oz, don't you think Scarecrow?"Asked the young male voice in a challenging tone.

The former doctor gasped and turned around to see Nightwing, Aqualad and Speedy standing at the entrance.

"Well, if it isn't the former Boy Wonder turned self-proclaimed pest. Do you honestly think you and your friends can stop me?"Scarecrow asked challengingly as his brown clad goons stood ready to fight.

"Considering you're all straw and no muscle, pretty much."Aqualad stated cockily with a smirk.

"That's what henchmen are for, boy."And with that said the Scarecrow snapped his fingers and his twelve henchmen charged at the young men.

The superheroes sprung into action and started fighting. Nightwing gave a roundhouse kick to three of the Scarecrow's men while Speedy shot two smoke arrows at three henchmen and took the time to punch them while they were confused and Aqualad gave hard punches to rest of the goons.

During this Scarecrow went into the vault, grabbed the box and rushed past the heroes to the exit.

"Hey great leader, the bad guy is getting away!"Aqualad exclaimed as he punched an approaching henchmen.

"Then let's go after him! Speedy, finish this!"Nightwing stated then he and Aqualad jumped away.

"You got it!"Speedy said and shot three knock out gas arrows at the goons making them all cough as the gas got into their lungs and soon passed out. The young hero team ran to catch up with the straw man and saw him outside clutching the box to his chest.

"Stay back, you pests! Or I drop these chemicals and this vile of my fear gas and bring down your minds like a ton of bricks!"Scarecrow threatened and dangled said vile by his thin fingers tauntingly. The boys glared at the villain but didn't advance to him.

"Sorry straw man, but your threatening license has been revoked!"Exclaimed a young voice not belonging to any of the three young heroes.

Then blue, black trimmed claws reached out and grabbed the box and vile in Scarecrow's hands.

"What the? What in the hell is going on?"Scarecrow asked and looked up at the shadowed silhouette of the person who took the items from him. All he could see were crimson eyes with yellow pupils and glass-looking wings.

"What's going on is you're at your last straw, Scarecrow."The figure stated and raised his hand then shockingly it formed into a large, long whip. He lashed it out at the former doctor and he hit a lamp post hard and soon fell unconscious as he let out a groan of pain.

Speedy, Nightwing and Aqualad looked at the villain with shocked faces and then at the figure in the sky as the whip like arm turned back to normal. Finally Nightwing broke the silence.

"Uh, thanks. But who are you?"Nightwing inquired curiously.

"A fellow hero just like you. The armored avenger Blue Beetle!"Exclaimed the young hero and then once the figure flew into the light Nightwing, Speedy and Aqualad's jaws dropped in awe at the appearance of the hero.

The blue creature looked like some kind of strange but otherwise beautiful blue wonder with an evenly slender and muscular figure. Beetle's glassy wings shone in the light making them plus himself glow ethereally. All that added with the sparkle of big crimson eyes made the young scarab master look almost like some kind of fairy.

Blue Beetle flew closer to them and landed down on the ground in front of them while giving a sweet, friendly smile.

"Hey, it's nice to meet you three."The scarab master said kindly.

The trio was silent for a long while until they smiled widely and spoke at last.

"Hello."The young men said in unison, all the while they were thinking different thoughts.

"_Goodbye Talia, hello beautiful in blue!"_Nightwing thought while smirking wickedly on the inside.

"_Forget mermaids being the most gorgeous creatures, this little number is the real deal!"_Aqualad thought and could feel his heart pounding like crazy.

"_Golly, I've shot a bunch of arrows in my day but this time I think Cupid takes the cake."_Speedy thought to himself dreamily.

And of course Blue didn't know what they were thinking and just continued to smile. Then they all introduced themselves.

"I'm Nightwing, the leader of the team and at your service."The former Boy Wonder said in a much deeper, charming voice and gave a bow. Then Aqualad pushed the headstrong male away from Beetle and introduced himself.

"And I'm Aqualad, the hero from Atlantis."The merman said charmingly took Beetle's hand gently and shook it. Then Speedy moved up to the blue male and pushed Aqualad aside slightly.

"And I'm Speedy, the master of archery."Speedy said and tipped his hat to the younger male. Blue Beetle looked at them strangely before he gave a small smile and said,

"Well it's great to see you guys. I'm glad to meet you in person."Blue said kindly and smiled more.

"So are we."The trio said in unison, and at the same time thought in unison.

"_She's mine."_They all thought unknowingly together. And while this was happening Blue Beetle's Scarab thought,

"**Oh, boy. Here we go."**Scarab thought worriedly.

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And that's the first chapter! I hope you all liked this. Check my profile in a while because there's going to be a poll up centering this story soon.

Bye for now!


	2. The Start Of A Heroic Rivalry

Greetings, all you happy tax payers! Here is the newly made chapter of this literally funny love story.

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Getting back to where we left off….

"It's really great to meet the sidekicks of the three most famous heroes. I've heard a lot about you."The blue hero said with red eyes sparkling with admiration and a wide smile on his face.

And unfortunately the poor, innocent hero did not know that the look on his face made the three older boys in front of him think in a more than friendly way.

"_This kid sure is cute. And she's already got her eyes on me. This is going to be so easy."_Nightwing thought smugly to himself.

"_If this pixie beauty is a dream I don't want to wake up. I'd sure like to see what she hides under that costume."_Aqualad thought in a perverted manner.

"_Gosh her wings look so gorgeous. I wonder what they feel like. I'll bet they're as soft as her lips must feel."_Speedy thought dreamily.

The boys were suddenly snapped out of their day dream when Blue shouted at them.

"Hey!"Blue shouted at the boys loudly which made them get out of their trance.

"Huh?"The trio asked in unison. Beetle chuckled at the boys before he said,

"I was asking if you guys want me to drop straw man here off at Arkham."Beetle stated and held up said villain, who was unconscious, by the scruff of his collar to emphasize his point.

"Oh, yes of course. And as the leader, I'll be more than happy to help you escort this villain. Just you and I."Nightwing said in a seductive tone as he moved close to the young male but Blue Beetle didn't catch it.

"Well I…."Blue started but Speedy interrupted.

"No, I'll help you escort Scarecrow. You'll need someone who knows how to give a good chase if he gets loose."Speedy said in a confident tone.

"Actually…."The younger male started again only to be interrupted by Aqualad this time.

"Forget it fellas, I'll help Beetle escort this low life. She's going to need someone with muscle."Aqualad stated smugly.

"Guys listen you all can….wait a second, did you say she?"Beetle asked shockingly.

"Well yeah, you're a girl."Aqualad stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Blue blinked for a while and then looked at the boys with a curious face.

"What? I'm a guy."Beetle said with a bit of a chuckle in his voice. The three boys looked at him with eyes so wide they looked as if they would burst out.

"What? You're a guy?"The young heroes asked shockingly in unison. Beetle chuckled.

"Yeah, what did you think I was a girl or something?"Beetle asked. The trio looked at each other then started to act nervously. Beetle got the idea and just smiled. "I see. Well that's okay. The suit is kind of tight in some places plus I'm not really the buffest dude around. So how about we all drop this creep off together?"Blue asked and this time the trio gave an answer.

"Sure."They said in unison once more.

"Great. We can take my ride."Blue said and then the spikes on his back started to blink and soon a big, blue beetle shaped ship come to them.

"Gee whilikers, that's a big ride."Speedy said as he and the other boys looked up at the ship with wide eyes.

"It gets me around. Come on and hop aboard."Blue said and all the young heroes got on the ship and flew off to Arkham. During the ride Nightwing, Aqualad and Speedy were thinking.

"_Wow! I never would have thought that Blue Beetle was a guy. Talk about a shock. But still, he is pretty good looking. And he's got a nice voice…."_Nightwing thought to himself.

"_I can't believe that pixie is a dude. He looks a whole lot like a girl. Do I care if he's really a boy? I mean it's not like I'd be the only one to like someone who's the same gender as me."_Aqualad thought.

"_Jeepers, I can't believe Blue is really a guy. It's weird though, even though I know he's not a girl I can't make my heart stop beating when I think about him. I guess that love at first sight stuff is true."_Speedy thought as a smile started to grace his lips.

Eventually the heroes made it to Arkham Asylum and gave Scarecrow up the guards and went back into the ship then flew off.

"Where can I drop you guys off?"Beetle asked.

"The roof top around the next left."Nightwing said. Beetle nodded and steered the ship left then landed on the roof top. The platform opened up and the trio walked down it then got off the ship.

"Thanks a lot for the ride, Blue."Speedy said and the beetle-like hero smiled.

"No problem. It was nice meeting you guys."Blue said and turned his back to leave until Aqualad called out to him.

"Wait!"Aqualad called out. Jaime stopped and looked at him with big, cute and curious red eyes.

"What is it?"Blue asked. Aqualad suddenly felt an urge to kiss the exotic looking hero. He cleared his throat and then said,

"Uh, could you show us your real face before you go?"The water hero asked in a slightly nervous voice. Beetle looked at him with a shocked, hesitant face.

"I'm not sure. I mean it's not every day I show my real face to people. But we are fellow heroes, so I guess I could show you who I really am."Beetle said and closed his eyes. Then the black and blue skin started to slip off from his head and black silky hair began to appear until Jaime's entire head could be seen clearly. He shook his head a bit to shake off the tight feeling and ran his fingers through his black hair.

As for the other males their mouths were hung open when they saw the younger male's real face. He had perfect tan skin and cool black eyes that matched his hair. While the sidekicks were enthralled by Jaime's looks their minds were functioning enough to hear what the boy had to say next.

"My real name is Jaime Reyes. If you want you could look me up sometime in case you want to hang out. See ya."Jaime said then walked into the ship and the platform closed up and finally the ship rose up and flew into another direction.

"Golly, Blue Beetle sure is cool guy."Speedy said with a hint of dreaminess in his voice.

"Yeah, and he's not too bad a looker either."Aqualad said with a bit of a wolfish smirk on his face.

"Which is exactly what makes him a great match for me."Nightwing stated with a sure, confident smile. Speedy and Aqualad looked at the former Boy Wonder with shocked faces.

"You? What the heck makes you think that Jaime would like someone like you?"Aqualad asked with a look of questioning angry.

"Well for one thing he had his eyes on me the whole time. I'm sure you noticed."Nightwing said with a smug, nonchalant smirk.

"Please, who would want to look at you with while you're in that eye sore costume? If Jaime was looking at anyone he was looking at _me_. After all my physique _really _takes a load of people's eyes."Aqualad said with a bit of arrogance and flexed his arm muscles.

"Come on guys we shouldn't be fighting over something like this. Besides it's pretty obvious that Blue had his eyes on me."Speedy stated with a sure look. This made the two slightly older boys look at him with shocked confusion.

"What? No way! Jaime likes me and we make the better couple!"Nightwing stated angrily which earned him glares from the other boys.

"Forget it, bird brain! You're better off trying to get with Talia, and you couldn't even get her to like you. Jaime likes _me._"Aqualad stated firmly and the two males started each other down with hardened glares.

"I'm the one he likes!"Speedy said in a bit of a raised voice and joined the glaring. Then Nightwing said,

"Well then gentlemen, I guess this means war."Nightwing said and the trio gave one last look to each other before turning their backs and walking in separate directions.

And so started what would soon become the most interesting of all rivalries. The heroic rivalry of romance.

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Yes I know that last line was corny but give me break here. I was working on this thing with a migraine. Anyway, if you have any ideas feel free to tell me via private messaging or leave it in your review. And don't forget to vote. Don't worry kids under seventeen my poll box is actually open to people of all ages.

See you soon!


	3. Valentine's Day Special:Enter The Mentor

Hello everyone! First of all I'd like to say thank you DaveDShow for your kind reviews. If you could I would like you to join FF Net so that we can talk properly. Now as you all know today is Valentine's Day and as such I decided to post the chapter early and make a valentine special! So from me to you all, Happy Valentine's Day!

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The next day Speedy, Nightwing and Aqualad went to their respective mentors to aid them in three different criminal confrontations in different parts of Gotham to blow off some steam. Aqualad and Aquaman were fighting Black Manta and Gorilla Grodd in the east side harbor, Speedy and Green Arrow were fighting Clock King and Penguin at the south side bank and Nightwing and Batman were fighting Bane and Kru'll The Eternal in a west side science lab.

Looking in on Nightwing and Batman we see him talking to the Dark Night about his problem while he was dodging swings from Kru'll.

"And then Aqualad is like, "You couldn't even get Talia to like you!". I can't believe he hit that low below the belt!"Nightwing explained and gave a roundhouse kick to the cave man's face which made his head twist to the side and he stumbled back two feet.

"You don't say."Batman said as he dodged Bane's fists and flipped over him.

"I mean really. Like Aqualad has such a chance with to be with Blue. What person would want to be with some hothead like him anyway?"Nightwing asked as he flipped out of range from the fireballs of the ancient cave man's club.

_Looking in on Aqualad and Aquaman_

"And then bird brain has the nerve to get in my face and says that _he's _the best guy for Blue. As if his ego couldn't get any bigger!"Aqualad said as he gave Grodd a hard punch in the face which in a way was harder than it should have been.

"I see. And just what do you think about all this my young ward?"Aquaman asked as he grabbed Black Manta's arm and tossed him into Gorilla Grodd.

"I think that Beetle obviously has the hots for me. And I also think that Nightwing is going to pull something wise behind my back to try and win Beetle over."Aqualad said as he walked over to his blonde mentor.

"Neptune's bolt, it looks as if you have quite the problem."Aquaman man said and the two villains started to sneak up behind the younger Atlantian.

"I know!"Aqualad said and punched the two villains under their chins which caused them to pass out and fall back on their backs.

_Looking in on Speedy and Green Arrow_

"Then after a while we went our separate ways and that's how I came to you."Speedy said as he shot a fist arrow at penguin but the bird-loving villain just cut the arrow with the sharp tip of his umbrella.

"All that in one night and in just ten minutes? Sheesh you three broke my personal record for starting up a fight."Green Arrow said with an amused grin and gave Clock King a punch but moved back when the regal villain slashed his sword at him. The two archers backed up and bumped backs.

"One thing's for sure though. Those two aren't going to get any mercy out of me."Speedy stated.

"Well Speedy boy if you're serious about being with this Blue Beetle guy then maybe you could use some _professional _help."Green arrow said and flipped over Speedy and kicked Penguin in the face which instantly knocked him out while Speedy shot a cryogenic arrow at Clock King causing him to freeze up and a block of ice formed around his body.

"What do you mean professional help?"Speedy asked, arching an eye brow at his green-clad mentor.

_Looking in on Aquaman and Aqualad_

"I mean that I could help you in gaining the affections of this young hero that your heart screams out to. In fact this could make for a great story that my female readers could enjoy. Perhaps I could call this romantic adventure 'The Romantic Pursuits of Aqualad Aided by Aquaman'."Aquaman said with a wide smile at the thought of a possible story.

"Whoa there, Shakespeare. Why would you want to help me with this anyway?"Aqualad asked.

_Looking in on Batman and Nightwing_

"Because you're going to need someone experienced with this kind of thing and besides, I know Jaime better."Batman said as he tied up Bane and Kru'll.

"That's true. I could use whatever you know about him to my advantage over Speedy and fish boy."Nightwing said and held his chin in thought.

"So what do you say?"The Dark Night asked.

_Looking in Green Arrow and Speedy_

"What do you say, kiddo?"Green Arrow asked.

_Looking in on Aquaman and Aqualad_

"What do say, young chum?"Aquaman asked.

And in each different side of the city, the boys replied with the same answer.

"I say let's do it."They all said in unknowing unison. Then a news bulletin came up on Batman's car radio, Green Arrow's car radio and on the TV that was near Aquaman and Aqualad.

"_**And in other news, Solomon Grundy and The Gentleman Ghost are executing a robbery in the Museum of Ancient Jewelry. These undead villains are extremely dangerous and police are having a difficult time in dealing with them."The news man explained. **_

_Looking in on Nightwing and Batman_

"Hey, this could be the opportunity I need to impress Jaime. Come on, we can't let this pass up! Let's go!"Nightwing exclaimed and rushed to the Bat Mobile with his bat-like mentor but little did he know Aqualad and Speedy had the same thought in mind.

On the north side of Gotham the six heroes made it to the museum in a short amount of time at the same time. And needless to say things got a bit complicated when the sidekicks saw each other.

"What are you guys doing here?"Nightwing asked in a shocked tone.

"I'm here to stop Gentleman Ghost and Solomon Grundy that's what."Aqualad stated with an angry face.

"I got here first so I'm going to stop those two undead creeps!"Speedy stated.

"Like you could, shrimp."Aqualad said and the boys started to glare and growl at each other.

"Hey boys cool it."Green Arrow said in an attempt to calm things.

"It's not as if any of you could anyway."Stated a female voice. The heroes looked to see a woman to their right.

"What do you mean?"Batman asked.

"Two other heroes went in before you got here to stop those crooks. I didn't get a good glimpse of the first one but the second hero looked young, I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman but their costume was black and blue and they had red eyes."The female civilian said. The sidekick's eyes went wide at what the woman said. That meant….

Not wasting a second Nightwing, Aqualad and Speedy ran past the lady and rushed to get inside the museum. And not wanting to be left out the older heroes followed.

Once they went inside the museum, noticing the doors were ripped from its hinges, the six men saw Solomon Grundy fighting with someone. And that someone was Blue Beetle. The younger hero moved from side to side as the zombie tried to grab him and turned his arms into cannon blasters then shot the undead best with a blue barrage. Grundy shouted in pain and hit a glass case full of jewels.

"You may be all brawn Grundy but a brain would have given you the sense to dodge those missiles."Beetle said with a smirk on his face not knowing that the heroes were watching him. Speedy sighed dreamily.

"He's so witty."Speedy said with a dreamy tone and smile to match.

"_Oh boy, Speedy's got it bad for this Blue Beetle hero."_Green Arrow thought.

"I never thought I'd find someone who can be dangerous and hot at the same time while shooting missiles."Aqualad said with a smile.

"_Great gull of the sea, I've never seen Aqualad act this way. He must truly be in love."_Aquaman thought.

"I wish Beetle would shoot those missiles my way."Nightwing said in a dreamy, hopeful tone though it wasn't as sappy sounding as Speedy's.

"_And I thought I fell hard for women when I was younger."_Bruce thought.

It was only when the six heroes heard a loud shout that they all snapped out of their thoughts and looked ahead to see Grundy come flying at them. Luckily each male ducked and the zombie flew straight through a police car with his head poking out the other side. The zombie groaned in pain before passing out. The heroes looked at the sight with wide eyes.

"Did you all enjoy the show?"A young, male voice asked with an amused tone. They turned to see Jaime looking at them with an amused face. Aqualad was the first to act and moved over to the younger hero.

"You bet! You handled that undead creep like it was nothing. I didn't know you were so strong."Aqualad said with a smile showing off more teeth than needed while Nightwing and Speedy looked on with jealous glares.

"Thanks but I still have Gentlemen Ghost handle but I lost him while I was fighting Grundy."Beetle stated and looked around for the undead villain.

"No need to search any longer, young hero."Said a British accent full of malice. Beetle looked behind himself just in time to see a blast of purple fire come his and Aqualad's way.

"Watch it!"Blue exclaimed and pushed Aqualad out of the way but didn't get out of the way himself. The fire ball hit him in the inter-section of his back and side and the hero fell down from the impact.

"Blue Beetle!"The heroes shouted in unison and the younger hero groaned in pain as a response.

"Prepare to taste the feel of the afterlife, you bug."The British ghost said and raised his cane to strike Jaime again but then a yellow strip of energy took the cane out of his hands.

"Now didn't your parents ever teach you not to raise your hand against a fallen opponent?"Asked another British voice and Gentlemen Ghost turned to see that it was Dr. Fate.

"Fate! What are you doing here?"Gentlemen Ghost asked in a shocked, angered tone.

"Making sure ghosts like you stay under wraps."Fate replied and created more energy strips and wrapped them around the around the ghost and raised him up in the air.

"Let me go, you gold-clad sorcerer!"Gentlemen Ghost ordered as he tried to break free from his binds but to no avail.

"Nth Metal isn't the only thing that affects ghost, Craddock."Fate stated and though you couldn't see it he was definitely smirking and he moved to the ground to help Jaime up.

"Thanks for helping me out, Dr. Fate."Beetle said as he was lifted up.

"Not a problem. Heroes have to stand by each other after all."The blonde sorcerer stated which made the blue clad hero smile while his three admirers looked on in jealousy. Not wanting to be outdone Nightwing moved to Blue Beetle to inspect his injury.

"It looks like Gentlemen Ghost's fire really burned you, Blue. But don't worry, I have a first aid kit that'll fix that."Nightwing said.

"Actually that won't be necessary."Fate said and held onto Beetle's injury.

Once he did that you could hear three different grinds because Nightwing, Aqualad and Speedy had ground their teeth in raging jealousy. Then Dr. Fate removed his hand from the injury and Nightwing was surprised to see that the burn was gone.

"Wow. That's pretty impressive. Thank you very much, Dr. Fate."Jaime said with a smile as the skin of the suit repaired itself.

"As I said before dear boy, it's not a problem. Now if you'll excuse me I must be on my way. Take care."And with that said Fate created a portal and walked through it, thus disappearing along with the portal.

"Are you alright, Blue?"Nightwing asked and placed a comforting hand on the black and blue shoulder though he really just wanted to touch the young male of his affections.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for checking. Do you mind taking these two away? I have somewhere I need to be."Jaime said and for a second his eye lids bat cutely and Nightwing had to bite his tongue to keep from hugging the young hero.

"Not at all. It would be my pleasure."Nightwing said a charming voice. Beetle nodded and walked past the former Boy Wonder then stopped to look at Aqualad.

"Are you okay?"Blue asked. Aqualad gave a charming smile and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Oh yeah. That old ghost didn't even hit me. Besides it wouldn't have mattered if he did, nothing cuts through this muscle."Aqualad stated with a sure smile and Nightwing growled lowly in jealousy.

"Well I'm glad to see that you're okay."Beetle said with a smile and was going to leave until someone stopped him.

"Wait!"Speedy said and Blue turned to look at him.

"Yeah, Speedy?"The younger hero asked. For a second or so Speedy felt chocked up and couldn't say anything but finally managed to say,

"Uh, you were really great back there."Speedy said in a slight nervous tone with a nervous smile. Beetle's eyes went wide for a second but then he smiled widely and walked over to the young archer and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks. That means a lot coming from you."Blue said and gave a wink before he turned around and flew off leaving Speedy smiling widely with a fast beating heart while Nightwing and Aqualad looked at the red clad archer with burning jealousy.

Meanwhile as Blue Beetle was flying Scarab thought,

"**Dear Lord. Jaime doesn't even know what kind of trouble he started. I pray to The Reach that this war for his heart ends…somewhat well."Scarab thought and sighed.**

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Sorry if this is an hour late but it's still Valentine's Day somewhere so that counts I guess. Read, review and vote!

See you soon!


	4. Around the Clock Brat Patrol

Hi all! I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter!

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Today was a simple day. The birds were chirping, the wind was giving a pleasant breeze and heroes were fighting bad guys.

Right now Nightwing, Aqualad, Speedy and Blue Beetle were fighting Crazy Quilt and his colored henchmen after they had stolen several paintings from a museum. Nightwing was fighting the blue henchman, Aqualad was fighting the green henchman and Speedy was fighting the red henchman while Beetle was dealing with Crazy Quilt.

"There is no chance that you can stop a mastermind such as me, you pestering mosquito! I'll make you a permanent fly on the wall by the time I'm done with you!"Crazy Quilt stated and shot a colored beam at Beetle who gracefully dodged the beam and looked at the crazy artist with a glare.

"Not if I can draw a blank on you first!"Blue Beetle said and formed a shield on his left arm then charged in as more lazer beams were shot at him. When he realized that his beams weren't working Crazy Quilt tried to run but Blue was too fast and kicked the mastermind square in the back. This caused Crazy Quilt to land chin first on the ground and his helmet fell off.

"Ughh…."Crazy Quilt groaned out in pain.

"Sorry Quilt, but this art deal of yours has fallen through."Blue said with a smirk and got off the villain.

Nightwing, Aqualad and Speedy had long since taken out the henchmen and were just watching the blue berry of their eyes with loving, dreamy stares.

"So witty and athletic."Speedy said dreamily as he leaned forward on the red henchmen's back which made him grunt in pain at the forced angle.

"So strong and fearless."Aqualad said in the same tone.

"So smart and gorgeous."Nightwing said with a smile on his face.

The young men were so wrapped up in their own thoughts that the trio didn't notice Jaime was talking to them.

"Hello? Anyone home in there?"Blue asked as he tapped each sidekick on the shoulder. They snapped out of their trances and looked at Jaime with more focused expressions.

"Oh, sorry Blue. We were just, um…."Nightwing started trying to make up a good excuse.

"Surveying the area to make sure that no civilians were hurt."Speedy said quickly.

"Yeah what he just said."Nightwing said in agreement and Aqualad just nodded. Jaime gave the young men awkward looks.

"Okay. Can you guys take these four to Arkham by yourselves? I need to head back and meet with my cousin."Blue said.

When the sidekicks heard what Jaime said, they became curious. Once they really thought about it none of them had ever asked the scarab master about his family.

"_It seems a little early to talk to Jaime about his family, but if I ask now I'll be prepared for them later and easily win them over."_Nightwing thought and a smirk slid its way on his face.

"_If I can impress Jaime's family maybe it'll be easier for me to impress him."_Aqualad thought slyly.

"_Asking about Jaime's family may give me some major points to win him over. Then that'll put me in the lead while Garth and Dick are behind."_Speedy thought in a scheming way.

"So just who is this cousin of your's?"Nightwing asked.

"My thirteen-year old cousin Chakita. She comes to visit from Metropolis once every five months and I'm looking forward to seeing her again. My aunt goes out with my mom and dad whenever she comes to visit while I hang out with Chakita and Cerberus."Beetle explained.

"Cerberus?"Speedy asked in a curious tone.

"He's Chakita's pet border collie. She named him Cerberus because she always liked that three-headed dog creature. Chakita isn't like most girls. Well I really should be leaving before I'm late. See you, guys!"And with that said Jaime spread his glassy wings and flew off.

As Blue Beetle flew away Nightwing, Speedy and Aqualad looked at him with adoring eyes and then started to set their own plans into action. Then Speedy cleared his throat which broke the plotting silence.

"Well, I guess we should take these guys to Arkham then."Roy said in a tone that was a cross between casual and awkward.

"Oh! Yeah, um I guessed we should."Garth said in the same tone.

"Right. Well then I guess we should go."Dick said and the trip to the asylum was awkward until the boys took their separate ways with different plans concerning one innocent scarab in mind.

Meanwhile Jaime had made it to his neighborhood and scanned the quaint, somewhat small area of his house area and saw a blue sports car parked in the driveway. That meant that his aunt and Chakita were here. The young male smiled and walked to the door of his house then opened it.

"Mom! I'm home!"Jaime called out. Jaime's mother looked from her sister in-law to her son and smiled.

Jaime's mother was a beautiful woman with light mocha skin, long chocolate brown hair and charcoal black eyes. She was wearing a red short sleeved sun dress that stopped at her knees, a purple long sleeved jacket piece and light purple medium heeled sandals.

Jaime's aunt had a less girly type of attire. Her shoulder length hair was dark red, she had the same skin tone as her sister in-law and honey brown eyes. She was wearing black dress pants, a medium sleeved cool green shirt and grey dress shoes.

"Welcome home, dear."Mrs. Reyes said.

"Jaime, it's so good to see you again! You've grown so much since I last saw you. You may be as big as a horse now but you'll always be that little fawn I first met way back when."The red-head woman said in a smooth, mature Mexican accent with a wide smile on her face. The hero blushed a bit and smiled at his aunt.

"Thank you, Aunt Rosette. Say mom where's Chakita and Cerberus?"Jaime asked.

"They're waiting in your room. Chakita was practically jumping on the walls in excitement. And Cerberus wouldn't stand still either."Mrs. Reyes said with hint of amusement in her sweet, gentle Mexican accent.

"Well we should be leaving now. We can't risk your father booking it in my new car to avoid carrying our bags. Take care, Jaime. You, Chakita and Cerberus have fun."Rosette said and walked out the door with Mrs. Reyes.

"We will, Aunt Rosette!"Jaime said waving off his mother and aunt while silently praying for his father. Jaime closed the door as the car drove off and walked up to his room.

The young male carefully opened the door and looked around the room with accurate eyes. Once he deemed it safe to enter Jaime walked inside the room then quickly checked behind the door to see if his cousin and her dog were hiding there but didn't see them.

"Hmm, I wonder where those two could…."But before Jaime could finish his aloud thought he heard a growl and then heavy weight on his back.

"Gotcha! You need to work on your surveying skills, cousin!"Stated a young female voice with a Mexican drawl. The voice's statement was followed by a thick, playful bark.

Jaime chuckled and turned on his back to look at his cousin, Chakita Reyes and her loyal dog Cerberus.

Chakita was a lovely young lady who had peach tan skin and freckles across the bridge of her nose, long hair as red as blood and black eyes. She was wearing grey jeans, a short sleeved orange shirt and beige sneakers.

"Hi, Chakita. Hi, Cerberus. It's really great to see you both again. It's been so long."Jaime said with a smile and hugged his young cousin.

"It sure has! We really missed you cousin!"Chakita exclaimed happily while Cerberus gave a happy bark. Jaime let go of his cousin and then said,

"Well your mom and my mom have left for the next few hours. What do you want to do first?"Jaime asked as he got up.

"Let's get some ice cream! Then I want to go to skate rink and try out my new board!"Chakita stated enthusiastically. Jaime chuckled at his cousin's exuberance.

"Okay, then. We'll get some ice cream and go to the skating rink. I'm sure we'll have a good time."Jaime said and with that the two cousins and dog left the house then went on their way not knowing that the eyes of a bird, an archer and a merman were on them, or rather on Jaime.

The two cousins and Cerberus had walked from the house to the park where there was a little ice cream cart. Jaime got both him and Chakita chocolate while he got vanilla for Cerberus. The three then sat on a bench and ate their ice cream.

"Mmm, this is great cousin! I'm really happy to be here with you. Cerberus is too!"Chakita stated with a smile.

"Arf!"Exclaimed Cerberus in agreement. Jaime smiled warmly at his cousin and her dog.

"I'm happy to be here with you guys, too. I'm glad that you…"But then the young hero stopped when he started to hear strange cracking sounds and arched an eyebrow in confusion. "Huh? What was that?"Jaime asked aloud.

Chakita and Cerberus looked around with confused faces of their own and the cracks started to get louder. Then three snapping sounds were made along with three shouts. The cousins jumped off the bench then looked behind them and both were surprised to see Speedy, Aqualad and Nightwing lying on top of one another groaning in pain.

"Nightwing, Aqualad, Speedy? What are you doing here?"Jaime asked in a shocked tone. The boys looked at their love with weak smiles and started to get up.

Chakita however was as angry as an ex wife not getting an alimony check. Jaime's attention went from her to these three idiots because of their unwanted appearance. Cerberus wasn't happy either and growled lowly in anger.

"Heh, heh. Well you see we were, um called here to investigate a disturbance around the park. And it turned out to be a false alarm."Nightwing explained in a nervous tone hoping that his lie would slide. Jaime just looked at the three young men with a confused, unbelieving face.

"Okay. But why were you in the tree?"Asked the scarab master. This time Aqualad gave an explanation.

"We were surveying the area from the trees."Aqualad stated. Jaime didn't seem to believe them based off the look on his face but otherwise let it slide.

"Right. Well since you're here I want you guys to meet Chakita and Cerberus."Jaime said and gestured to the young pre-teen and dog who were trying to hold back their glares.

"Nice to meet you, Chakita. I'm Speedy, an archer hero. How are you?"Speedy asked in his usual sweet and polite voice.

"Just peachy."Chakita said with a fake smile and her left eye twitched slightly and you could feel how annoyed she was but the young men around her couldn't.

"I'm Aqualad, one of the strongest Atlantian heroes. Next to Aquaman anyway."Aqualad said.

"And I used to be Robin the Boy Wonder but you can call me Nightwing."The bird-like hero said.

"The pleasure is all mine."Chakita said with the same fake smile but no one seemed to notice the faultiness of her facial expression.

"It's nice seeing you guys but Chakita and I need to…."But then a beeping noise goes off before Jaime can finish. He takes out a blue, cell phone-looking device and answers it. "Hello...You need me to what? Now? Well….alright. I'll be there."Jaime said, hung up his phone and sighed sadly.

"What is it, cousin?"Chakita asked with a worried look adorning her face.

"I'm sorry Chakita but I've been called away for an emergency. I need to leave now. But only for a while, I promise."Jaime said with an assuring smile. However that didn't stop the freckled girl from frowning in sadness and Cerberus from whimpering sadly.

"But who will take me and Cerberus to the skate rink?"Chakita asked with a sad face. Jaime frowned in sadness but the boys smiled in happiness at the idea that struck them.

If they agreed to watch Chakita and Cerberus, then they would be able to better impress Jaime and win his heart! It was then that the trio said in unison,

"I'll watch Chakita for you!"Exclaimed the young heroes. Jaime, Chakita and Cerberus looked at the boys with shocked faces.

"What?"Jaime asked in surprise.

"I…"Nightwing started but Speedy and Aqualad gave him glares that said, 'You want to rephrase that?', so Nightwing cleared his throat and started again. "I mean, _we _will watch Chakita for you while you go handle your emergency."Nightwing said with a sure smile, but Jaime didn't look so sure himself.

"I don't know. I mean you guys are nice but Chakita and Cerberus don't like people they don't know."The scarab master stated.

However Chakita and Cerberus were keen to the idea. Not because they liked the sidekicks and wanted to spend time with them, but because that meant they could give them a rough time. The pre-teen and Collie smirked evilly. These chumps think that watching Chakita and Cerberus was going to be a cake walk? Well they would prove them wrong. Changing her frown to a smile Chakita then says,

"It's okay, Jaime. I would love to hang out with Speedy, Nightwing and Aqualad. We'll have loads of fun. Won't we Cerberus?"Chakita asked.

"Arf!"Cerberus barked in agreement. This time Jaime seemed to be convinced after hearing his little cousin's approval of the idea.

"Well, if it's okay with you Chakita I guess there's no problem. Are you guys sure you want to watch Chakita and Cerberus?"Jaime asked.

"Of course. You just go ahead and we'll take care of everything."Nightwing said in a sure tone and wrapped his arm around Jaime's shoulders.

While the gesture was meant to be intimate the innocent bug-like hero didn't think much of it. However Speedy and Aqualad knew what the gesture meant and glared at Dick with jealousy evident in their eyes. But no one was more rage-filed than Chakita. She didn't like anyone outside of the family touching her beloved cousin save for Jaime's friends.

"_Who does this fashion-reject of a hero think he is touching Jaime? It's obvious that these hero zeroes just want to hang out with me so that they can impress my cousin. Well I'll show them that this little cat got her claws early."_Chakita said with an inward grin.

"Alright then. The skating rink is just twelve blocks from here. Take good care of Chakita and Cerberus. And you two be good while I'm away."Jaime said and petted the top of Chakita's head and scratched Cerberus' ears.

"We will, Cousin Jaime."Chakita said with a smile.

"Arf!"Cerberus barked in agreement. Jaime smiled and walked over to the guys then whispered to them.

"I'll be with the Green Lanterns taking care of a prison break. If you need me just use this communicator. But only for emergencies."Jaime stated and gave Speedy the same cell phone-like communicator.

"Don't worry, Jaime, we'll watch Chakita like she was our own cousin."Speedy said with a sweet smile.

"Great. I'm counting on you three. See you later. Bye Chakita and Cerberus."Jaime said waving off the three heroes, his young cousin and her dog. Then Jaime walked off to the nearest alley and a moment later Blue Beetle shot out the alley and flew into the air.

"Wow! Blue Beetle! I can't believe I got to see him this close up. I hope Jaime saw that."Chakita said with a voice full of wonderment.

"Oh, I think Jaime got a pretty good view."Garth said and smirked widely only to shout in pain after Nightwing stepped on his foot.

"Okay then Chakita, are you ready to hang out with us at the skate rink?"Speedy asked kindly. Chakita frowned, crossed her arms and looked at the red-head with a mean sneer.

"Hang out with you three? Please! Like I would really belittle myself by hanging out with stupid, bubble-headed, super zero sidekicks in public."Chakita said cruelly. Cerberus made a scoffing sound in agreement with his owner and turned his snout up high.

"Whoa, rewind! Who replaced the sweet thirteen-year old with this evil clone?"Nightwing asked curiously, just as shocked as Speedy was.

"And hello, we are so not bubble-headed sidekicks! We're as much hero as anyone else."Aqualad stated in a firm tone but Chakita just huffed amusingly.

"Like I care. Look you buffoons, I know that you only agreed to watch me and Cerberus so you can impress my cousin. But I'll tell you right now it's not going to happen. Neither of you are getting any digits from my cousin now or ever. And if you think I'll let you off easy you've got another thing coming. So in short, don't test me and maybe I won't torment you. Get it?"Chakita asked in a viscous tone while Cerberus growled just as viscously. All the teens flinched back in fright and stood by each other.

"Got it."The trio said in unison frightfully. Chakita and her dog grinned at the fear they induced.

"Good. Now come on! I want to get to the skate rink before too many people get there."Chakita ordered and she walked ahead with Cerberus.

As the pre-teen walked ahead Speedy, Aqualad and Nightwing looked on in fear as they remained close by each other.

"What have we got ourselves into?"Dick asked in a low, slightly scared tone.

"A world of torment and suffering."Roy answered.

Eventually the sidekicks got over their shock and managed to catch up with the spunky young teen and soon made it to the skate rink. Chakita's eyes brightened in joy as she saw the new ramps and all the stunts that were being made by other kids.

"Wow, this is so cool! It's been so long since I've been to the skate rink."Chakita said joyously.

"What do you want to bet she was banned?"Aqualad asked the other sidekicks in a whisper who chuckled. Cerberus growled at the trio and they instantly shut their mouths.

"Come on Cerberus, let's go hit the rink!"Chakita said and ran to the rink with her dog.

The second Chakita got on her skateboard it seemed like she was gliding on air. She raced down the railings, shot up every ramp she could get on and even pulled off several mid-air tricks. And at times when she got off her skateboard Cerberus would get on it and move around on the board himself. The teenagers in the rink cheered for Chakita and also asked her to autograph their boards. After a while the Hispanic girl grew tired of skating and decided to leave.

"Alright you bums, I'm ready to leave so let's…."Chakita stopped talking after seeing the male teens sleeping soundly on the bench while snoring not so soundly at the same time. Chakita sighed and pulled a blow horn out of her backpack and blew it right the trio's ears. The sound made them jump in shock and they rubbed their ears.

"What the heck was that?"Nightwing asked shockingly.

"That was me."Chakita said simply. The boys looked at her with unbelieving/angry faces.

"Why would you do that, kid? You could have blown our ear drums."Aqualad said as he rubbed his aching ears soothingly.

"Well I tried talking to you but you didn't hear me. I had to get you up some kind of way."Chakita said with a grin. The boys looked at her with 'yeah right' expressions.

"Like we believe that."Nightwing said.

"Well believe this, I want to go out for a bite to eat. All that skating made me hungry. There's a pizzeria not too far from here. Now shake a leg. Unless you three are too old to keep up."Chakita said then laughed as she and Cerberus walked out the rink. The boys growled in annoyance and followed the girl.

"That kid better be lucky she's Jaime's cousin. Otherwise I'd show her the insides of a great white shark."Aqualad said with an angry look.

"Come on now fellas let's keep it cool. We don't want to make Chakita or Cerberus upset. And besides she's just thirteen. Shouldn't we at least try to make some kind of peace with them?"Speedy asked his fellows sidekicks.

"Peace, with this one girl terror plus her mutt? Why?"Aqualad asked with a truly curious look.

"Because maybe deep down Chakita's distrust lays a kind heart."Speedy suggested.

"_Heart_? You mean that tiny, pulsating acid ball sitting where her heart _should_ be?"Dick asked.

"Aw come on guys. Let's at least give it a try. Besides if we don't make Chakita and Cerberus happy then Jaime won't be happy."Speedy stated and this time the slightly older sidekicks seemed to agree after hearing those dreaded four words.

"Fine, we can at least try to get along with Chakita."Nightwing said.

"But if that brat pushes the line too far she's going to get it."The young Atlantian stated quickly.

The group arrived to the pizzeria in what seemed to be half an hour but it was really just ten minutes. Chakita had ordered a large cheese pizza with black olives and chicken. As they waited for the food to come Speedy decided to ask Chakita a few questions hoping to lighten the mood.

"So Chakita how long do you plan to stay in Gotham?"Speedy asked. Surprisingly rather than a sneer or a cold shoulder Chakita gave a reply.

"The rest of the week. After that my mom, Cerberus and I are leaving for Metropolis. Which reminds me, when did Jaime say he would be back from his errand?"Chakita asked.

The boys suddenly felt their hearts stop at the question. How could they tell the young girl that her older cousin had gone out into space to the help the Green Lanterns on a mission? They couldn't risk a bad reaction if they told Chakita the truth. So they decided to do what any teenage boy would do in the face of a problem, lie.

"Well uh, he didn't say when exactly but I'm sure he'll be back in time."Dick said in a slightly nervous tone. Chakita gave the boys an unbelieving look, her eyes not even blinking as the pizza was placed on the table.

"Really? Well then let me call his cell phone and see when he'll be coming back."Chakita said and took out her light orange cell phone and started to dial Jaime's number until Garth stopped her.

"Wait! Um, he said that he would be working a lot so his phone is off and he won't be able to talk right now."Aqualad explained to the girl. Chakita seemed to believe this but still looked a bit skeptic.

"Then how am I supposed to call Jaime in case of an emergency?"Chakita asked. This time Speedy offered a lie.

"Jaime said that he would call around four o'clock. Don't worry Chakita, everything's fine."Speedy said with a smile. Though on the inside he was very nervous. Again this seemed to ease Chakita's mind and she gave a short nod in understanding and began to eat. She even shared with the guys.

After the five finished eating they decided to go on a simple walk around the block. As they walked things seemed okay and Nightwing, Speedy and Aqualad found themselves enjoying Chakita's company just the littlest bit. However this odd tranquility was not meant to last because then suddenly Nightwing's communicator started ringing and he picked it up and answered.

"Hello?"Nightwing asked.

"_**Nightwing**__, __**it's**__**Batman**__. __**Listen**__**we**__**have**__**a**__**situation**__**downtown**__. __**The**__**Joker**__**is**__**robbing**__**a**__**diamond**__**depository**__**and**__**Aquaman**__, __**Green**__**Arrow**__**and**__**I**__**could**__**use**__**the**__**extra**__**help**__. __**Tell**__**Speedy**__**and**__**Aqualad**__**and**__**I'll**__**come**__**get**__**you**__**at**__**your**__**location**__.__**"Bruce**__**said**__**all**__**in**__**one**__**breath**__**but**__**Dick**__**managed**__**to**__**hear**__**it**__**all**__._

"Well there's let up and a let down to that, Bruce. You see the let up is that Garth and Roy are right here with me."Nightwing said.

"_**And**__**the**__**let**__**down**__**is?"The**__**Dark**__**Knight**__**asked**__._

"We're watching Jaime's little cousin Chakita and her dog Cerberus while he's away. So we won't be able to help you."Nightwing said with a hint of sadness in his tone. Bruce understood where his young ward was coming from and tried to think up an alternative solution so that they trio could help and watch Jaime's cousin and her dog at the same time. Then after about a minute he said,

"_**I**__**think**__**I**__**have**__**an**__**idea**__.__**"Batman**__**said**__. _

After explaining this idea to the raven-like hero Bruce picked up Nightwing, Aqualad and Speedy along with Chakita and Cerberus. The plan was to let the young teen and her dog stay in the Batmobile at a safe distance while the heroes took care of Joker and his goons. Chakita of course protested because she wouldn't be involved in the action but the teens made a deal with her, saying that if she stayed in the car that the boys would do anything that she wanted. Chakita gave a wicked smirk at the thought which made a shiver of fear go down the sidekicks' spines and the red-headed girl agreed to the terms, but the boys wondered if the deal they just made with this pre-teen was equal to that of making a deal with the devil.

It was a little over three thirty as the six heroes were at the diamond depository and Bruce parked the Batmobile in a dark alley as Green Arrow's mobile pulled up beside his vehicle. Batman and the three sidekicks got out of the black car while Green Arrow and Aquaman got out the green car.

"Alright, three of us will scope out the situation from the roof while the other three go into the depository through the ventilation duck. Speedy and Aquaman, you two will head to the roof with me. Nightwing you'll go ahead with Aqualad and Green Arrow and sneak in through the ventilation duck."Batman explained and the other men nodded their heads in agreement.

"While I wait here in a tacky bat car that has no radio. Some gentleman you are, to keep a lady and her dog waiting like this. You vigilantes are all the same."Chakita said with a peeved expression. Bruce's right eye brow twitched while Green Arrow and Aquaman stifled their laughs.

"And _she's _Jaime's cousin?"The bat-like hero asked the sidekicks in a whisper.

"I think they adopted her from Poison Ivy. They have a pretty good resemblance."Nightwing whispered back.

"Heard that, batty and birdie."Chakita said not looking up from her crossword puzzle. Cerberus made a chuckle-like bark.

"Just stay here until we get back, Chakita. We promise to make it up to you."Speedy said kindly.

"Yeah, yeah, carrot-top. Just don't take your sweet time and forget that I'm here."Chakita said and Cerberus made a drawling bark that sounded like 'yeah'.

The heroes resisted the urge to roll their eyes and rushed to put their plan into action. Batman, Speedy and Aquaman shimmied up to the roof via Bat Line while Nightwing, Green Arrow and Aqualad opened a ventilation duck and crawled into it, making their way into the diamond depository. Inside the depository Joker's men were stuffing hands full of diamonds into the bags as the Clown Prince of Crime was sitting in a pile of gems.

"Ah, who says that diamonds can't be a man's best friend, too? With all this ice, I'll need to buy a fur coat to keep myself warm."Joker said and laughed at his corny joke. The henchmen chuckled awkwardly at the joke knowing that if they didn't there would be comical consequences.

Up on the roof the Dark Knight, young archer and the king of Atlantis looked down from their perch and saw the henchmen stuff the diamonds into the bag as Joker sat in a pile of diamonds watching his henchmen do the work. Batman took out his communicator and called the former Boy Wonder.

"Nightwing, they're in the hull of the depository and packing in the diamonds. Now's your chance to surprise them and we'll join you after."Bruce said.

"_**That's**__**just**__**where**__**we**__**are**__**and**__**we**__**see**__**them**__. __**We'll**__**give**__**them**__**a surprise**__**they'll**__**never**__**forget**__."__**Nightwing**__**said**__**and**__**ended**__**the**__**transmission**__._

The raven-like hero took out a smoke bomb from his utility belt and twisted the cap and the egg-shaped bomb started making soft beeping sounds.

"You two may want to cover your eyes. This smoke is pretty strong."Nightwing warned and tossed the smoke bomb out through the vent and it rolled out to the middle of the room and the beeping started to get louder. The criminals looked around curiously to try and detect where the sound was coming from looked down in the middle of the floor to see the smoke bomb and before anyone could react to it the bomb went off and exhausted mass amounts of black smoke in the entire room.

The criminals coughed as the smoke got in their lungs and the heroes took their chance to attack. Nightwing, Aqualad and Green Arrow were the first to strike and rushed out the ventilation duck and hit as many goons they could see. Then Batman, Speedy and Aquaman jumped down from the roof and joined the melee. The goons were so shocked by the sudden surprise attack that they barely managed to put up a fight before they were knocked out by the heroes. Joker however didn't seem all that phased by attack.

"It seems like we have some unwanted guests to our little diamond gathering. And they don't even have the manners to show themselves. Well I'll fix that."Joker said and pulled out a gun-like device that had a large fan for the barrel. He turned the switch on and the fan let out a strong gust of wind and blew away all the smoke. The heroes stopped their movement's mid-attack and looked at the scene with wide eyes, realizing all too soon that they can now be seen by the henchmen.

"Well…this sure is awkward."Green Arrow said.

The henchmen then charged at the exposed men and began fighting back. Each hero took on three henchmen at a time and no matter how hard they hit them the clown dressed goons kept getting up and coming back for more. But thankfully the heroes were more than able to fight back and didn't stop for even a second.

Joker meanwhile was shoving the bags of diamonds into his helicopter and when he was done looked back at his henchmen who were still fighting the Dark Knight and his allies who didn't look the least bit tired. The deranged clown sighed exhaustingly.

"Must I do everything around here? The buffoons knock out those goody two tight heroes to save their lives. I suppose I'll give them just one last freebie."Joker said and pulled out a can of silly string and shot at the six men once they huddled up in pairs. The first pair to get wrapped up in the pink, gooey strings was Nightwing and Batman, then Aquaman and Aqualad and finally Speedy and Green Arrow. The men fell down after the strings finally finished tying them.

"Okay, this way closer than how I usually like to be with people."Aqualad said as he struggled against the binds.

"Don't bother fish stick, struggling against those silly strands will only make them tighter. Should it get to a point where you struggle enough the strings are made to crush you so hard that your organs will burst out. Won't that make for a great front page picture?"Joker asked before cackling insanely. The six men growled at the crude comment and before either gave a retort, a young female voice spoke.

"Actually I think a picture of you with a black eye would be a way better front pager, giggle."Retorted the young voice tauntingly. The clown turned to see who dared to mock him but little prepared him for the charging dog that barked and snarled viciously before pouncing onto the Clown Prince.

Joker shouted in pain as the dog laid his entire weight on him and bit him in the shoulder. He managed to remove the sharp fangs before they could puncture deeper but the dog was still snapping his teeth at him as Joker held the muzzle back. Both henchmen and heroes were shocked by this and looked at the dog attacking the clown villain with bulging eyes. Then they heard what sounded like wheels racing on the marble floor and looked to see a young teen girl racing toward the men on her skateboard with a rope over her shoulder. But this wasn't just any girl, it was Chakita Reyes.

"Chakita?"The good guys asked shockingly.

"Who else?"Chakita asked back. It was then that the young sidekicks realized that, upon further inspection, that the dog was Cerberus.

The young Spanish girl pulled out some rope from her backpack and lassoed the rope around the wrists of one henchman. Chakita pulled hard on the rope and the man fell down then was dragged along the floor very fast. Cerberus barked at the other goons and snapped at their ankles to get them to huddle up together. Once all twelve henchmen were together Chakita lassoed the rope around the burly men with the last henchmen still being drag along the floor as she did so. Soon Chakita had all thirteen henchmen tied up and tightened the rope before she hopped off her board.

"Woof! Arf!"Cerberus exclaimed.

"Yeah, Cerberus. I've heard of the famous Baker's Dozen but it looks like we've made the first non-famous Criminal's Dozen."Chakita said with a grin and chuckled amusingly.

As for Batman and his fellow heroes they looked at the pre-teen with shocked faces. They had been knocked out by fewer henchmen who were much stronger than these guys and yet a thirteen year old girl managed to take down thirteen big, burly muscle heads with just a rope and a border collie. It was truly amazing and definitely not something you see every day.

"Sheesh. Whatever Jaime said about Chakita not being like most girls he didn't say enough."Nightwing said.

"Apparently."Batman said.

"Jeepers, Chakita sure can take care of herself."Speedy said. The girl in question looked at the heroes who were still bound together in silly string.

"Well I guess the next order of business is getting you fellas out of this wacked-up silly string."Chakita said as she walked over to the six men. She took some sort of can out of her backpack and sprayed the contents on each set of pink strands. The strings got wet from the spray naturally, but then surprisingly started to slip off.

"Whoa! The string is slipping off."Green Arrow said as he pulled out his right arm and ripped off the damp string, freeing himself and Speedy.

"Chakita this is amazing. What kind of chemical compound do you possess that freed us of our binds?"Aquaman asked with an amazed expression as he broke out of the strands.

"Nothing special, just plain old wheel polish that I use on my skateboard wheels."Chakita said holding up the bright blue can revealing the label and it did indeed say 'Wheel Polish'.

"Wow, kid. I guess you're more on the level then I thought at first. You're pretty cool."Aqualad said sincerely with a smile.

"Very good, water boy. Now we can move onto your time tables."The red-head said with a sarcastic smirk. The other sidekicks stifled their laughs and the smile on Garth's face flattened to a scowl.

"That's the last time I act nice to you."Aqualad said in a peeved tone.

"Gee, I'm so sad."Chakita said and the scowl on Aqualad's face turned into a deep frown. It was then that Batman's eyes went wide with shock as he realized something.

"Wait a minute, where's Joker?"Bruce asked and everyone else's eyes widened as well and they began to look around for the clown. Then they heard the sound of a helicopter propeller turning and looked up to see a purple helicopter with a clown smile painted on the front. Joker was in it and looking down at them.

"You didn't honestly think I would stick around and let you catch me easily, did you?"Joker asked with a manic grin. The heroes all took a fighting stance, glaring at the Clown Prince of Crime.

"Chakita, get out of here quickly while we handle this."Aquaman said.

"No way! After saving your hides I have every right to stay here. I have no intention of leaving!"Chakita stated with narrowed eyes.

"Arf!"Cerberus barked in agreement.

"That's good. Because _I_ have no intention of letting you leave."The clown said and brought out a fishing rod and cast out the string. From the bait piece unhinged a huge grabble claw and it grabbed both Chakita and Cerberus in a vice grip.

"Ah! Hey!"Chakita exclaimed as she was hoisted up and her dog howled in distress.

"Chakita!"The heroes exclaimed in shock. Chakita and Cerberus were pulled into the helicopter and sat near Joker. The girl glared at the clown with a very angry expression.

"What do you think you're doing, you white-faced freak? We're not a pair of salmon!"Chakita exclaimed angrily while Cerberus barked just as angrily.

"Oh, hush up, you pests. I suggest you hand over more of the diamonds if you want this brat and mutt to live, Batfool. I just bought a new lethal joy buzzer and I've been dying to try it. Or at least wanted some to die after I try it on them."Joker stated and laughed manically.

"Joker, you let those two go or I'll buzz you!"Nightwing threatened as he started towards the helicopter.

"Spare me your wasted threats, you overgrown canary. If I even see one high tech gadget come my way we're having hot dogs and fried innocent bystander."Joker said with a challenging grin as he raised his hand with the buzzer attached over Chakita's head. The former Boy Wonder stopped and growled in frustration, as did the others. Neither hero could get close enough to save Chakita and Cerberus with ultimately causing their deaths. After a whole agonizing minute passed Chakita smirked to herself when an idea hit her.

"Say, Joker?"Chakita asked in her fake innocent voice.

"What is it, brat?"Joker asked.

"Before you make the decision to kill me and Cerberus, would you like to hear a knock joke? It's a really funny one and I'd like tell it to someone before I die."Chakita said sweetly and gave a charming smile. Joker thought it over before he shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, why not? It may actually be good. Let's hear it, kid."Joker said.

"Knock, knock."Chakita said.

"Who's there?"Joker asked.

"You."Chakita said, her smirk growing inch by inch.

"You who?"Joker asked with a curious expression.

"You….are so gullible."Chakita said and bit the clown on the nose, _very hard. _

Joker shouted in pain and Chakita let go of his nose. The villain dropped the fishing rod in his hands to hold his bleeding nose. The rod dropped into Chakita's hands and she pressed the release button, making the claw let her and Cerberus go.

"Alright, she's free!"Speedy said with a smile and the others looked just as relieved.

While Joker was distracted Cerberus chomped onto his leg with all his fangs making the man shout in pain even more. Chakita then latched the grabble onto Joker's other leg. The clown looked at his restricted leg then looked at Chakita who was smirking evilly at him.

"Let's see how you like it, you corny clown. Cerberus, please show our guest his next _drop._"Chakita said and Cerberus tackled the villain out of the helicopter. Joker screamed as he swiftly descended to the floor of the depository but his fall was halted when the string was stopped. The clown bounced the air as the string tried to regain stability.

"Well Chakita it looks like you caught yourself the first two legged clown fish."Aqualad said with a grin. Chakita laughed

"Yeah, but it's too ugly to take for a pet. I think I'll sell it to the Arkham Aquarium."Chakita said and the mentors and sidekicks laughed. Even Bruce chuckled a bit.

"Ha, ha, ha. A million laughs, kiddo. You're a real card."Joker said as he crossed his arms while wearing a peeved expression.

Later on Batman, Green Arrow and Aquaman took Joker and his henchmen to Arkham while Dick, Roy and Garth headed back to the park to wait for Jaime after the boy called saying that he was done with his mission and was heading home. Right now the four humans and single dog sat on the park bench awaiting Jaime to return.

"Say, Chakita?"Nightwing asked.

"Yes?"Chakita asked back.

"You're not, um, you know, going to tell Jaime about the whole us taking you to a crime in progress involving Joker are you?"The former Boy Wonder asked a bit nervously, hoping that Chakita would say no. The young Reyes girl just smiled and looked up at the sky.

"You'll see."Chakita said and neither teen could tell if there was an evil hint behind that sentence.

"_That can't be a good sign."The boys thought in unison._

The teens, pre-teen and dog looked up at the sky and from above they could see a figure flying and coming their way. As the figure got closer the boys saw that it was Blue Beetle. The scarab like hero came down to the ground and walked over to his friends and cousin.

"Hey, guys. I'm glad to see that you're all looking well and managed to stay in one piece."Blue said with a smile. The boys looked at Jaime with shocked looks, not knowing how to respond without Chakita finding out that it was her cousin but that worry soon went away when Chakita said,

"Hey, cousin! I missed you so much!"Chakita exclaimed happily and rushed to into her cousin's waiting arms. Jaime laughed as he hugged Chakita and Cerberus stood by him, waiting for his turn of affection.

"I missed you, too Chakita. And you too, Cerberus."Jaime said as he rubbed the collie's ears. The dog wagged his tail in appreciation.

The boys looked at the scene with shocked faces and hung open mouths before Speedy finally snapped out of his shock and talked.

"Wait, you mean you knew that Jaime was Blue Beetle all along, Chakita?"The red-clad archer asked with a very shocked, taken-aback look.

"Of course. I am his sidelines sidekick after all. And besides that we tell each other everything."Chakita said and hugged her cousin tighter.

"Sorry fellas. I should've told you before but I needed to leave in a hurry."Jaime said with an awkward smile. The boys returned the smile and chuckled.

"No big deal. We know now, right?"Garth asked though inside he felt a bit ticked that he hid his love's identity for nothing.

"So Chakita, what did you and Cerberus do with Nightwing, Aqualad and Speedy today?"Jaime asked with a curious smile.

The boys paled a bit at this and worried that Chakita would rat them out. The girl turned to look at them and surprisingly gave them a reassuring wink. Then she turned back to Jaime.

"We had loads of fun, Jaime. We played fight the bad guys, went to the skate rink, had pizza and even went around the park. The boys were so nice to me. I even got to meet Batman, Green Arrow and Aquaman. They're so cool in person!"Chakita said with a cheery smile.

"Woof, woof, arf!"Cerberus happily in agreement and nodded his head. Jaime smiled brightly at this news while the boys looked at Chakita with bulging eyes full of shock.

"Well I'm glad that you two had fun. Listen, I just need to change out of my armor and then we can head home. In the meantime you two can say goodbye to Speedy, Nightwing and Aqualad."Jaime said and went to go behind a big thick oak tree. The boys and red-head waited until they were alone before talking.

"Whoa. I can't believe you didn't rat us out and told Jaime half a lie just to save our hides. That was pretty nice of you, Chakita."Nightwing said.

"Yeah, too nice in fact. What's this gonna cost us?"Garth asked with a suspicious look and the other two boys gave the Spanish girl the same look. Chakita chuckled at their skepticism.

"Relax, gentlemen. This one is on the house. No charge of any kind."Chakita said with a sincere smile. This made the teens even more surprised.

"No charge? Like, at all? Not even a deposit?"Speedy asked.

"Nope. I really did have fun with you guys. Out of all the dead beats who have watched me just to impress my cousin, you three are more considerate and actually treat me like a person rather than a ticket to get Jaime's phone number. You boys are a-okay with me. But that doesn't make us friends, so don't push it."Chakita said suddenly turning back to her evil self but her face still had some sincerity. This made the boys chuckle.

"Don't worry, we won't. So, truce?"Dick asked and held out his hand. Chakita took it in a firm grip.

"Sure."Chakita said and shook each hand. Jaime came back in his civilian outfit and smiled at everyone.

"I'm back. Thanks a lot for watching them, guys. Let's get going, Chakita."Jaime said and took the young girl's hand.

"Wait, cousin. Can I hang out with the guys again tomorrow? They said that they had so much fun with me that they want to hang out with me again. I really had a lot of fun with them today and want to play with them again. Please, can I hang out with them?"Chakita asked with a pleading face and Cerberus whimpered in sadness.

Dick, Roy and Garth felt shivers go up their spines. They had hoped that Chakita forgot their deal. Jaime however just smiled at his little cousin.

"Sure, if that's what you want to do, Chakita. I'll tell Aunt Rosette and my mom that you want to be with them. You can pick Chakita and Cerberus up at one tomorrow, fellas. Thanks again for watching them. Bye!"Jaime said and waved off the teen boys who still held their flabbergasted expressions.

"Bye Nightwing, Aqualad and Speedy! I can hardly wait for all the fun we'll have tomorrow."Chakita said with an evil grin as she waved at them. Cerberus chuckled mischievously.

The sidekicks looked at the retreating cousins and dog for a while before they sighed sadly.

"I can't believe this."Aqualad said sadly.

"We went through a whole day with that devil child and fought Joker's goons to boot, all for nothing."Speedy said.

"This seriously bites."Nightwing said and the trio sighed sadly yet again and started to leave the park.

"Wait a second, guys!"Called out the voice of Jaime and the young men turned to see Jaime running towards them. He stopped in front of them and panted to catch his breath.

"What is it, Jaime?"Roy asked. After a while the young Hispanic replied,

"Chakita wants all five of us to hang out tomorrow instead. Then the four of us can go see that new action movie that came out after we take her home. Since you three watched Chakita for me I figured I owed you so the movie will be my treat. What do you say?"Jaime asked with a sweet smile.

The frown on their faces turned into bright smiles after the boys heard that. Immediately they gave answer.

"Sure!"The sidekicks replied in unison.

"Great. See you tomorrow."The scarab hero said and left yet again.

The sidekicks smiled widely at the thought of spending time with Jaime. They didn't need to guess who arranged this for them. Maybe Chakita wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

And that's that! I hope you all enjoyed Chakita and Cerberus' debut. Aren't they so cutely evil? Anyway the poll for this story is up so keep those votes coming.

See you soon!


	5. Date Hate

Hi everyone! I hope that you'll all enjoy this chapter. Sorry for the wait. This is dedicated to DaveDShow and darkgirl11, my dear friends whom I truly appreciate.

* * *

Today was a brand new day and Dick, Roy and Garth were all looking forward to it greatly. Why do you ask? Because today is their "date" with Jaime! Granted it wasn't truly a date with Chakita around, something that seemed to be the only thing the trio agreed on these days, but they certainly won't look a gift horse in the mouth.

At his apartment on the West side Dick was putting on the finishing touched for his look. He stepped back from the full length mirror and gave himself a final look over before smiling widely.

"Oh yeah. I'm definitely dressed to impress."Dick said confidently to himself.

The former boy wonder was dressed in a classy style outfit. He wore a pair red polo pants, a royale blue long sleeved vertical stripe button-up dresses shirt and slate gray dress shoes. He took off his mask and combed his hair in a formal style. With a final look over Dick grabbed the little box of chocolate bunnies he got for Jaime and headed out to his house.

At his apartment on the East side Garth looked closely at himself in the mirror and hummed in thought.

"It's missing something."Garth said. Then he snapped his fingers in realization and turned on the blow dryer then blew his hair into a wild mess. He turned the dryer off and looked himself over again and was satisfied. "That's better."Garth said to himself.

Garth was dressed in a punk style outfit which consisted of a pair of olive green ripped jeans, a form fitting black tank top, a dark brown jean jacket and black combat boots. At first he was going to wear a skull chain but he didn't want Jaime to be scared of him. After approving of his look Garth grabbed the box of peanut butter cookies he got for Jaime we left his apartment for his "date".

And finally on the South side Roy was adding the final touches to his outfit. He looked at himself critically before smiling in approval.

"Holy male models, I look good."Roy said confidently.

Roy dressed up in a prep style outfit. He wore a pale yellow short sleeved saffron yellow shirt, pale blue skinny jeans and white sneakers. He took off his mask and combed his hair in a neat semi-casual look. He grabbed the box of toffee he got for Jaime then left to meet with him.

The boys each took the bus to Jaime's house, all deciding that arriving in their specialized vehicles wouldn't be the best choice. Each bus stopped at the corners near Jaime's neighborhood and from there they walked to Jaime's house. Once the three boys got to the front door they looked at each other with a glare.

"Roy."Dick said simply.

"Garth."Roy said.

"Dick."Garth said.

For the longest time they all looked at each other with the same glares before Dick spoke.

"How about we press knock on the door all at the same time?"Dick suggested.

"Fine."Garth and Roy agreed in unison.

Each young man raised his hand up slightly then after they counted to three they knocked on the door together. After a moment the door opened and revealed Jaime.

"Hi fellas! It's great to see you."Jaime said with a wide smile but the boys were more focused on his look than his greeting.

Jaime was wearing a pair of vanilla white slacks, a medium sleeved burgundy shirt and light gray sandals. His hair seemed to be fuller and more wavy than usual but all three teens couldn't help but become captivated by this marvelous beauty. However their captivated trance ended when they heard a familiar, evil and fake sweet voice.

"Hello, gentlemen. I'm so glad that you could make it."Said the female voice and the boys stood up straight as they felt a chill go down their spine. Out of the door stepped Chakita Reyes.

Chakita was also wearing a different outfit. This time she was wearing a tangerine short skirt with amethyst leggings, a mint green long sleeved shirt and blue sneakers. She had her hair braided and a blue ribbon kept it tied together. While she looked sweet enough Chakita was anything but, the young heroes knew. However for the love of the young scarab master they would tolerate the demon child.

"Hello, Chakita. You sure look nice today."Dick said and strained to sound sincere with his sentence.

"Thanks. You look pretty attractive yourself today."Chakita said with a fake kind smile.

"Say Jaime, not to sound insulting but why does your hair look so wavy?"Garth asked. At this Jaime gave a cute blush and looked down nervously.

"Well you see, Chakita wanted to practice perms and so I was volunteered to be her test subject."Jaime explained.

Silently the boys thanked Chakita for her experiment and would gladly invest if she would give Jaime a perm again.

"Oh yeah. I got these for you, Jaime."Dick said and gave Jaime the box of chocolate bunnies.

"And these are for you too."Roy said and handed Jaime the box of toffee.

"And here's a little something from me to you."Garth said and gave his crush the peanut butter cookies.

"Thank you fellas. This is so nice of you all. I'll be sure to enjoy these."The scarab master said and set the boxes down on the table by the door.

"We shouldn't dawdle any further, gentlemen. Let's head to the movie theater."Chakita said.

"Huh? Oh, yeah right. You have your Beetle Ship ready, Jaime?"Dick asked.

"Yep. It's right around the corner. Let's go."Jaime said and led them to his ship.

The group flew halfway to the movie theater and Jaime hid the Beetle Ship behind an abandoned building so that no one would see it and they could get to it after the movie. Then they walked the rest of the way and went inside to get their tickets.

"_Whatever movie we go to see I hope that it involves some kind of romance. Then Jaime can lean on my shoulder and after that I'll make him swoon for me. It might be a little problem with Garth, Chakita and Dick here but if I play my card right then by the ending credits Jaime will be mine."_Roy thought confidently.

"_I hope that the movie is a scary one. Then when it gets to the killing part Jaime will jump into my arms and seek comfort. After that the guys will be sobbing off in their loser corner."_Garth thought wickedly.

"_If the movie we're seeing is an action film then I could impress Jaime by pointing out that I can do all the stuff the actors do but better. Then after the movie I'll give him a demonstration and then he'll be putty in my hands."_Dick thought smugly. Just then they all snapped out of their trances when they saw Jaime get four tickets from the ticket counter.

"So what movie did you pick?"Dick asked as they walked to the snack counter.

"Cutting Edge Romance. It's about three spies who are working together to find a notorious criminal. The three male spies have a crush on the girl spy but she doesn't even notice and to make it worse for them the girl's little brother makes their lives miserable when they hit on his sister."Jaime explained.

"Well gee wilikers that sure is elaborate."Roy commented.

"Yeah. I mean how complex can you get?"Garth asked. At the statements Chakita rolled her eyes.

"_Only these idiots would be so stupid as not to see the clear resemblance between the movie and their own situation. Oh well, at least the movie creators don't have to worry about being bothered for royalty payments."_Chakita thought.

After getting their snacks the group takes their seats. Chakita of course is the first to sit next to Jaime which left only one spot left to sit by him.

"I'm sitting next to Jaime."Garth stated.

"No, I'm sitting next to him."Roy said.

"I'm the leader so I get to sit next to Jaime."Dick stated.

"Fine then, we'll settle this like adults. We'll play rock paper scissors to decide who sit next to Jaime. Whoever draws the best hand wins."Garth said and the boys nodded in agreement.

"One, two three!"The trio said in unison and just then Roy bolted over to sit next to Jaime. This shocked said teen a bit but he gave the archer a nervous smile anyway.

"Well hello there, Roy."Jaime said. Roy smiled and waved over to his 'friends'. Garth and Dick growled lowly in anger ten went over to take their seats, the Atlantian sat by Chakita and the former Boy Wonder sat by Roy.

Soon more movie goers appeared in the room and the show started. It was getting off to a good start like any movie and soon it got into the part where the action truly began. There was some blood and little violence that made Jaime cringe back a bit and Roy smirked, seeing this as his chance. He yawned and stretched his arm around Jaime but a slap to his hand stopped his move. Roy looked past Jaime's shoulders to see a smirking Garth ad grumbled a bit.

The boys were so busy fighting over getting in some light touches of Jaime that they didn't notice the movie had kicked into the romantic part. The female spy was working on something while the male spies talked about revealing their feelings to her. Somehow the young heroes couldn't help but relate to their situation.

"_Those guys are right. Life's too short to hide away your love. If you feel something for someone say it. You can't worry about the consequences when none of have happened. That settles it, I'm going to tell Jaime that I love him._"Dick thought with a confident nod.

"_I'm such a coward for not telling Jaime how I feel. I mean he trusts me and has been honest with me so I should do the same. And I'm going to start by telling him that I love him._"Roy thought in a sure tone.

"_I have the perfect chance to tell Jaime how I feel. I can't just let it slip away from me. I got to take my chances._"Garth thought. After taking a deep breath the boys turned to Jaime.

"Jaime, we have something to tell you."Dick said.

"Yeah, it's really important."Garth supplied.

"Alright then guys. What is it?"Jaime asked.

"Well Jaime….we all really…."But before Roy could finish the movie screen exploded and debris was sent flying throughout the room.

Everyone save for the superheroes and Chakita ran off screaming in terror at the explosive scene, no pun intended. Soon the smoke cleared up and revealed a smirking Riddler and his Symbol Henchmen.

"Hello, all you happy movie goers! Riddle me this, what makes my entrance a scene in the movies? Answer, I make quite an explosion."Riddler said chuckled madly.

The heroes had all quickly ducked in the far high movie stands to go over their plan.

"You stay here with Chakita, Jaime. Me and the guys will change and handle Riddler."Dick stated.

"Right but please be careful, you three."The scarab master said.

"Don't worry Jaime. If there's one villain we can handle with a hand tied behind our backs it's Riddler."Garth said assuredly. After that the three young men went off to change into their hero forms.

"What do you think Riddler is doing here any, cousin?"Chakita asked.

"I'm not sure. Maybe if we listen in on him we'll find out."Jaime said and he peeked a bit behind the seat where he was hiding.

"Mr. Riddler why exactly are we here? What's so valuable at a movie theater?"Asked the Exclamation Henchman.

"Yeah and why am I recording everything you're doing?"Asked the Ampersat Henchman.

"Because my fellow symbols of sentences, movie making is where the real money comes from. And what better way to earn out share of the pie than to record my exciting career as super villain of Gotham? Plus by attacking such a popular movie theater I'll bring them publicity and they'll have to pay me for helping them. It's the perfect plan made up from the perfect mind!"Riddler exclaimed.

"You may be a smart villain, Riddler, but you're a stupid director."Said a young male voice and Riddler looked behind him to see Nightwing, Aqualad and Speedy.

"Ah, if it isn't the former Boy Blunder and his friends. How nice it to see you all again. My, look at how much you've grown. Too bad you won't be able to fully develop into men after my Symbol Henchmen are done with you! Engrave your marks on them, boys!"Riddler ordered and the purple clad henchmen charged toward the young men.

A fight broke out with Speedy fighting the Exclamation Henchman, Aqualad fighting the Ampersat Henchman and Nightwing fighting Pound Key Henchman and the Asterisk Henchman.

From up in the stands Jaime and Chakita were watching the boys fight.

"Shouldn't we go to try and help them, Jaime?"Chakita asked.

"I want to help them Chakita, but it would look too suspicious of I changed into Blue Beetle."Jaime explained grudgingly, wanting nothing more than to help his friends.

From his position on a chair-like pile of debris Riddler smirked as his henchmen fought the young heroes. It was then that his eye caught something moving in the high stands. Curious Riddler activated his line launcher on his cane and shot a line to the wall in the high stands. The arrow stuck into the wall and Riddler pressed the button again to reel himself up to the top. The young men noticed this and gasped in shock.

"He's getting up to top! We have to stop him!"Nightwing said and the trio tried to stop Riddler but the Symbol Henchmen stopped them.

Riddler landed in front of Jaime and Chakita which made them look at him with shock. Riddler studied Jaime closely before smirking wide.

"Well, aren't you a beautiful conundrum."The riddle master said. Jaime looked at him oddly and blinked.

"Who? Are you talking about me?"Jaime asked.

"Yes indeed my dear. I have to say that out of all the beauties I've given the honor of being part of my life you are one I'll enjoy giving this honor to the most. The name is Edward Nigma. But you can call me Riddler."Riddler said and took Jaime's hand before kissing it. Jaime looked at him with an awkward and grossed out look while Chakita lost her temper and kicked the riddle master in the face.

"Back off, Diddle Dee Riddle! My cousin is not interested so go rob a crossword puzzle factory or something!"Chakita exclaimed in rage. This seemed to bring Jaime back to his senses and he stood up in front of Chakita protectively.

"And besides, committing a major felony is a bit of a turn off for me."Jaime said.

"Well, you certainly have claws little kitty cat. But what the raven lacks in strength to defend itself against the cat, it makes up for in smart tricks to trap the cat!"Riddler stated and pressed another button on his cane which unleashed and electric net that wrapped around Jaime and shocked him with four thousand volts of electricity.

"Jaime!"Chakita called out and tried to rip off the net but just ended up shocking herself.

"Jaime is her name you say? Well that's one mystery solved."Riddler said and turned off the net and Jaime fell out with a weak groan of pain. Riddler picked him up in a bridal fashion and smirked down at Jaime. "And I aim to figure out the rest of your mysteries, my pretty."Riddler said.

From bellow the trio kept fighting the quad of henchmen and then the sound of a whistle caught their attention, making them all look up. The first thing that Nightwing noticed was that Jaime was in Riddler's arms.

"Jaime!"Nightwing exclaimed in worry and the other heroes gasped in shock.

"Make way on the red carpet, boys! We're about to make a location change for the next act."Riddler said. The Symbol Henchmen tackled the young men aside and ran into the green topless limo covered in question marks. Riddler hopped into the backseat with Jaime still in his arms. Speedy, Aqualad and Nightwing all stood up and looked at the horrific sight of their loved on being kidnapped.

"Jaime!"They exclaimed in unison. This made the Riddler look up at the young men.

"So you and your friends know the name of the fair damsel, former Boy Blunder? Well in that case you all can act as the heroes who will fight against me for the affections and right to the young beauty in my movie. We'll call it 'Act Two: Heroes Unite for Rescue'! I'll have people call your people to arrange payments!"And with that said plus a crazy chuckle the Riddler's limo drove away.

Nightwing, Aqualad and Speedy looked after the limo in defeat and self pity but that soon changed to angry determination.

"Watch out, Riddler. You're movie is going to get the plug pulled big time when we're through with you."Nightwing said.

After contacting police and their mentors the boys and Chakita waited by Jaime's Beetle Ship for their arrival. Soon the Bat mobile and Archer Car drove up and out came Batman, Green Arrow and Aquaman respectively.

"We got your call, but it was kind of rushed and we couldn't quite understand. Why did Riddler kidnap Jaime?"Batman asked.

"Yes. Surely it wouldn't be too keep him from testifying against him. He would have had to kidnap all the people at the theater."Aquaman stated.

"He said something about Jaime being a fair damsel and how we would play the heroes to fight him for Jaime for his latest movie."Speedy explained.

"He's doing this for money purposes. He thinks that by attacking the movie theater here that it would bring them big publicity and that they would have to pay him for his 'services'. He also aims to make a movie based off his criminal career to give to Hollywood for an even bigger cash load."Chakita supplied.

"I see. Well I'll have to perform a complete DNA and material scan to find out just where Riddler took Jaime."Batman stated.

"Hate to ruin your geek moment Batty, but that won't be necessary. Cerberus can easily sniff out the scent and figure out where they headed."Chakita said with a sure smile.

"Oh, so that's why you had me play chew toy to lure your dog out and bring him here."Green Arrow said and looked towards Cerberus, who was in the back of his car, with a glare and the collie gave a scoff-like sound.

"Yep. Now come on and watch how the old ways work wonders."Chakita said and walked to the wrecked movie theater with Cerberus following alongside her. The heroes all gave each other a skeptic look before shrugging and following suit.

Cerberus was sniffing around the area where the explosion happened then stopped near the pile of debris where Riddler sat and took a longer sniff.

"Did her get something?"Nightwing asked. He received his answer when Cerberus pulled out something from in between the rocks with his fangs. It was a folded slip of green paper with a single black question mark.

"Good boy, Cerberus."Chakita praised and took the paper from her dog. She opened it up and the paper then read the riddle. "Roses are red, violets are gray, what lights from fire looks better at night than day."Chakita read.

"What lights from fire? That could be anything!"The younger Atlantian exclaimed.

"Relax, my young ward. I'm sure that we'll figure out the riddle one way or another."Aquaman assured.

"It's fireworks."Chakita stated simply.

"See? You just needed to have faith, Aqualad."The blonde Atlantian said.

"What makes you so sure it's fireworks, Chakita? Like Aqualad said, it could be anything."Batman pointed out.

"True. But think about Riddler's personality for a second while thinking of the possibilities of what the riddle could mean. It can't be cigarettes because Nigma never got into the habit since smoking makes you dumb. It can't be firewood because he never went camping. And it certainly can't be gasoline because he never once used arson in his crimes."Chakita explained.

"You got a point there. But where do we start? There are like twenty different fireworks shops here in Gotham both in business ad abandoned."Nightwing stated. Barking from Cerberus caught everyone's attention and Chakita walked over to him and knelt down to what he was pointing at.

"It looks like Cerberus just figured out which firework shop we should go to."The pre-teen said. The men walked over to her and knelt down to look at what Cerberus found.

"What is it, Chakita?"Speedy asked. Chakita brushed her fingers in the debris and showed them to Speedy, which were both sparkling.

"You see that? That's glitter. Only one brand of fireworks every put glitter in their products and that was Sparkle Rockets."Chakita explained.

"I remember them. My company shut them down because the glitter was making the fireworks more explosive and unsafe for use."Batman said.

"That's right. But it seems like your company either left some fireworks behind or didn't confiscate all the materials because Riddler sure used a heavy amount of this stuff."Chakita stated.

"Well now that we know where Jaime is let's go save him."Nightwing said.

"Hold it guys, before we do that we need to take care of a few loose ends. Batty, do you have a professional mask make-up kit in that gaudy car of yours?"Chakita asked.

"Several of them. Why?"Bruce asked. At this Chakita smirked and the men looked at her with nervous expressions.

"Because if Riddle wants to play movie with us then we're going to use his own game to beat him."Chakita said.

Jaime groaned as he started to wake up from his deep slumber. He felt himself sitting in a chair and tried to get up but found himself unable to. When he opened his to see what was wrong Jaime found that his hands and ankles were shackled to the throne like Victorian style chair.

"What the? Where am I? Who shackled me to this chair and why?"The scarab master asked all at once.

"Ah very good my dear, but you forgot to ask when."Said a male voice and suddenly bright lights were turned on to reveal Riddler standing on a tall green platform.

Jaime surveyed the room and saw that the walls were white and ceiling were white, the floor was black and there were four green platforms plus the one Riddler was standing on. Also there was Riddler's limo by what Jaime assumed to be the exit on the right side of the room and on the left side were several boxes of fireworks. Finally Jaime looked at Riddler with a hard glare.

"Why did you kidnap me? What do you want Riddler?"Jaime asked.

"What do I want? What a quaint question. Well my pretty what I want is fame, fortune and proper recognition. So I figured, why not try making a movie to show off my talents. And then when I saw you I realized something important; I didn't have a damsel in distress for my movie. And with your fine young looks you'll be sure to help attract a lot of attention for me which will bring me more money from the box office. Don't you just feel special?"Riddler asked. Jaime's narrowed his eyes at the mad riddle master.

"No, I don't feel special. One because a crazy freak who's obsessed with riddles kidnapped me for a movie and two because you're crazy enough to think I'll willingly help you."Jaime said. At this Riddler grinned in a sadistic manner.

"I'm sorry to inform you my pretty, but like all damsels in distress when told to do something for the villain you have no choice."At this Riddler pressed a button on the middle of his cane and the marble floor slid out from underneath Jaime's chair to reveal a glass window that showed alligators snapping. The scarab master gasped in shock at this.

"You're crazy! You're going to kill me just because I don't help with your movie?"Jaime asked.

"Why not? Every villain is doing it. But if it makes you feel better the former Boy Blunder and his comrades all plan to save you from. Of course however I'm more than well prepared for them."Riddler stated. Jaime was about to give a retort when suddenly the Asterisk Henchman rushed in.

"Boss those young punks are here and making their way in through the ventilation shaft."Said the henchman.

"As I expected. Heroes don't even think that the front doors are open these days. They always go through vents but thanks to my genius intellect I'm well prepared for them."Riddler said and pressed the top button on his cane to lower down a security screen and turned it on. It revealed Nightwing, Aqualad and Speedy crawling through the vents.

"Guys…."Jaime whispered under his breath. Neither he nor Riddle paid any attention to the Asterisk Henchman that was sneaking off towards the fireworks.

"Hmm, let's see. I haven't used the electrocution button but that's so cliché. And I do like the vent temperature option but that's so outdated. Aha, I know what I'll do! I'll use them both."Riddler said and turned the knob on his cane to turn the heat in the vent up then pulled a small switch that started up the electricity.

On screen the vent changed from it's cool grey color to an orange-red color and the boys started to noticeably sweat.

"Stop it! You'll make them overheat and Aqualad especially can't take it."Jaime said in an attempt to reason with the mad man but failed.

"Why would I do that? The best part hasn't even started yet."The riddle master said with a cruel smirk to Jaime then turned back to the screen. Just then the electricity started to shock the boys and while the video was silent Jaime could tell that they were screaming.

"Stop it you sick creep! They have nothing to do with your stupid movie so leave them alone!"Jaime said, tears starting to form in his eyes.

"You're concerned for the safety of three teenage heroes and not your own? Aw, are you in love with them?"Riddler asked teasingly. Jaime blushed at this and looked to the side.

"I...well you see that's…."Jaime started but couldn't really finish his sentence. Again he and Riddler didn't notice the henchman, not even when he and the other three henchmen were loading all the fireworks into strange steel boxes.

"Sorry but whether you love them or not won't really change the effect of what is to come. Now then, time to end the enemies!"Riddle exclaimed gleefully and with a press of the button on the left side the vent floor beneath the trio fell out and they dropped down.

"No!"Jaime exclaimed and tried to get up from the chair but couldn't.

He just couldn't believe it. Aqualad, Speedy and Nightwing are dead and even with being as close as he was he couldn't save them. Jaime let his held back tears fall and sobbed miserably. The Riddler however cackled happily.

"Hooray! No more annoying heroes. The movie view polls said that in the end good prevails but I defied that proved them wrong! Now I'll not only get a pay off from my movie but gain the respect and fear of Gotham once they found out I killed the apprentices of the three most formidable heroes known!"Riddler exclaimed and laughed wickedly.

"It's hard to do that if you're in jail, Diddle Dee Riddle."Said a familiar female voice. Riddler and Jaime snapped their necks up to see Chakita standing by one of the platforms.

"Chakita!"Jaime exclaimed in shock.

"Well how about this. An extra pest to exterminate to help add to my victory. Pound Key, Exclamation, Asterisk, Ampersat, take care of our little guest."Riddler commanded. However, the four henchmen didn't move a muscle.

"Huh?"Jaime asked in confusion. Not that he wasn't glade that the henchmen didn't go to hurt Chakita but he was still confused why they didn't listen to Riddler.

"Well what are you waiting for? Go and kill that little squirt."Riddler said more harshly this time.

"Sorry Riddler, but we don't take order from evil."Said the Pound Key Henchman in a very familiar voice.

"What in the world?"Riddler asked in shock. Jaime eyes widened from shock as well. It couldn't be….

"Is….is that…."Jaime asked slowly and the Pound Key Henchman nodded to him.

"Yep Jaime, it's your little bird Nightwing."And with that said the young man ripped off the disguise to reveal the true form of Nightwing. The three other fake henchmen ripped off their disguises to reveal the forms of Aqualad, Speedy and Batman.

"What? But how? I saw you all three die!"Riddler said in confused terror.

"No, you saw the holographic illusions of us made from robotic remote controlled spiders die."Speedy explained.

Riddler quickly switched the screen to the bottom of the pit and gasped when he saw three crushed robot spiders.

"But, but how did you get pass my guards!"The riddle master asked again.

"We knew that you would have all the places that heroes would sneak into set up with traps and leave the obvious openings unguarded. We just went into through back door, knocked out our henchmen and did a little cast change."Aqualad explained. Riddler growled in annoyance but then smirked wickedly.

"Well it doesn't matter. I'll just finish you all off now with my Sparkle Rockets!"Riddler stated and pressed a right side button on his cane, but nothing happened. He pressed again and still nothing happened. He kept pressing the button but no explosion ever came.

"It won't work, Riddler. We placed all the fireworks in heavy explosion proof boxes."Batman said and gestured to the black square steel boxes and Riddler saw that all his fireworks were gone. Said villain growled in frustration.

"You all think you're so smart, don't you! Well I still have once ace up my sleeve, your little pretty friend here! Say goodbye!"Nigma said and pressed the middle button. Jaime braced himself for the fall but it never came. Jaime looked at the ground in surprise that he didn't fall white Riddler screamed in frustration.

"Now what?"Riddler demanded.

"Your cane not working was done on my part. I disengaged the circuit system that let your can control Jaime's trap door. But don't worry though. Cerberus is bringing your alligators right now."Chakita said.

Just then the stairs of the middle platform rose up and revealed another set of stairs going down. Coming up from the hidden stairs was Green Arrow, Aquaman and Cerberus. The Border collie was leading the group of reptiles like he was leading sheep in a formal stance then turned to face the alligators. He barked at them then pointed his paw at Riddler and acted like he was tearing up something then pointed at Riddler again. The alligators growled and ran towards the riddle master who screamed in fright and ran from the huge reptiles.

"I am truly impressed, Cerberus. You're skills with speaking to aquatic mammals are very amazing."Aquaman praised ad Cerberus gave a smile.

"Say Nightwing, aren't you forgetting someone?"Chakita asked and said hero gasped in realization.

"Oh yeah!"Nightwing said and he and the other young men ran over to Jaime and broke off his restraints. Before he could ask if Jaime was alright the boy gave him a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you're alive, Nightwing! I was really worried about you guys. I though you actually died."Jaime said and gave a peck on the cheek to Nightwing. His eyes widened in shock behind his mask and Jaime then did the same with Aqualad and Speedy who also grew wide eyed from their kisses.

"Well if the boys were hoping for a reward I think they just got it."Green Arrow said with a smirk.

Jaime was thanking and praising the young heroes but they were too absorbed in their kisses to really focus. Chakita smirked and shook her head in amusement.

"_I'll let them have this._"Chakita said.

After Cerberus convinced the alligator stop chasing Riddler Batman cuffed him and waited for police to come. Then soon arrived and loaded all the henchmen and the fireworks but just as Riddler was getting into the police cruiser Jaime stopped the officer.

"Hold it! I just want to state for the record that I am not a girl. I'm a boy."Jaime said to Riddler.

"What do you take me for, a junior high school freshman? Of course I know you're a boy."Riddler said.

"Huh? Then why did you keep referring to me like a girl?"Jaime asked.

"Ever heard of gender role play? Good grief it's so hard to find good intelligent help these days."Riddler said snidely. Jaime growled and slammed the cruiser door in Riddler's face. After that the cop cars all drove off.

"Well that was some movie date."Nightwing said.

"Yeah, but so not the one that we were hoping for."Aqualad said.

"True, but it wasn't so bad. You guys are alive and that's all that matters."Jaime said.

"Thanks Jaime. We're sorry that we worried you."Speedy said.

"It's okay, you did what you had to do. Well we better head home. Come on Chakita and Cerberus."Jaime said and he, his cousin and the Border collie walked to Beetle Ship that was hidden away. Soon the ship rose into the air and flew off.

There was a moment of silence before Batman said.

"It's alright now. You can shout."Said the vigilante.

"Are you sure?"Nightwing asked.

"Yeah. We're used to it."Green Arrow said.

Soon the boys all screamed for joy. The kisses from Jaime made this the best day ever!

* * *

There you are everyone! I hoped you liked it.


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